Every afternoon after students are released at Paradise Honors High School in Surprise, junior Sophia Valenzuela is just as relieved as every other kid on campus.

 

With the long school day over, students are free to be on their own. For most, the routine is as follows: head home, complete homework, eat dinner, and go to bed.

 

But for Valenzuela, that’s not the case. She heads to the girls’ locker room to put on her jersey and lace up her cleats for practice.

 

For most girls, practice around this time of year could mean soccer, basketball, or even pre-season softball workouts.

 

For Valenzuela, it means football, and defying stereotypes placed on a sport dominated by men.

 

“I’m not the best, but I put myself in the mindset that I have to be the best,” Valenzuela said.

 

Having grown up with five brothers, Valenzuela said the gender barrier is nothing to bat an eye at. She gets along with her teammates well and fits in.

 

“She’s just one of the guys,” said Paradise Honors head coach Duane Brown.

 

Valenzuela is a leader by nature, having played goalie for Paradise Honors’ soccer team and point guard for its basketball team. This is her first season on the football team, and the leadership has carried right over, according to Brown.

 

“Sophia’s incredibly competitive,” Brown said. “She’s a very vocal leader in soccer... and she carries it right into football which is really interesting. It’s an interesting dynamic.”

 

She brings a seriousness to the team was absent in the past, at least since one of her older brothers, running back and linebacker Brandon Brown, graduated from the team after last season.

 

“She has a very Brandon-like attitude in the way she approaches things. Very serious, very business, no plays off, no time off, no reps off, and we need that.”

 

The 16-year-old footballer has multiple roles on both the junior varsity and varsity squads, but her most prominent role is as the PAT kicker.

 

“She originally came out because she wants to kick,” Brown said, but Valenzuela also expressed interests in and has played other positions on the field, such as wide receiver and defensive back.

 

“She seemed to really like it,” Brown said.

 

However, Valenzuela has an affinity for kicking, especially since her older sister, Mariah Valenzuela, kicked for the Panthers during her high school years.

 

“Oh, I have to be better than she was,” Sophia said of the opportunity to follow in her sister’s path.

 

“She's learning what I did almost three years ago,” said Mariah, now a sophomore at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. “I'm proud of her. I will never say this to her face, but I do hope she becomes better than me.”

 

The motivation and drive to be better than her sister is what keeps Sophia going, as well as her immense desire for victory.

 

“I’m out here to win, honestly, and winning is fun for me,” she said. “I’m out here to win football games.”